New York Assembly Majority Leader Paul Tokasz will not seek
re-election to a 10th term. The veteran lawmaker, first elected in 1988,
was appointed majority leader by Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2001. He
sponsored New York's "motor voter" constitutional
amendment and was key in establishing an arts and cultural fund.
"It came down to family," Tokasz said of his decision to
retire. "I'm a home guy." Possible candidates for
majority leader are Ronald Canestrari, Joseph Morelle and RoAnn Destito.
Silver is expected to make his choice in January.

A husband and wife from Kansas may be facing off in November for
the same open seat. Pam Ippel, a Democrat, is unopposed in the August
primary. Her husband Jeff is in a three-way GOP primary race. Pam
decided first to run, then Jeff jumped in. "Better ideas," he
says. But one of his opponents, Jeff Colyer, believes it's an
attempt to divide the vote to ensure than moderate candidate Sherrelyn
Smith gets the nomination. "It's an absolute sham," says
outgoing Representative Eric Carter, who is leaving to run for state
insurance commissioner. "They're trying to confuse voters and
manipulate the process." Kansas Sate University political science
professor Joe Aistrup has another take: "It's about time the
moderates started pulling this stuff. Conservatives have been running
stealth candidates for years."

The chief of staff to former Illinois House Minority Lee Daniels
was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and will pay $120,000 for
directing state employees to work on campaigns on state time. Michael
Tristano faced nine counts in a federal indictment that included
extortion, a charge that was dropped although Tristano admitted to it.
Tristano admitted to approving false expense forms so employees working
on campaigns would be paid by the state from 1998 to 2001. The estimated
cost to the state was $120,000, which he agreed to pay. He said he
violated the law "out of loyally to House Republican
leadership," and that others above him were instructing him to do
so. "Frankly, I compromised my conscience to fit in and go
along," he said. Tristano said the plan was to use state money to
reduce the cost to the House Republican Campaign Committee.

A first-term Arizona legislator will sit out the primary and
general elections in Iraq. Representative Jonathan Paton, an
intelligence officer in the Army Reserves, volunteered for a five-to-six
month tour of duty, which began in August. Paton says his campaign is in
good shape, and he will get help from some of his colleagues in carrying
out election duties. "This is a decision he has strong feelings
about," said Speaker Jim Weiers. "I don't see anything
negative. I am extremely proud of this young man." Paton sponsored
Arizona's immigrant-smuggling law last year.

It looked as though two Montana state Senate leaders vying for the
job of U.S. senator would face off in November. In June, Senate
President Jon Tester won his Democratic primary, but Senate Minority
Leader Bob Keenan lost by a substantial margin to incumbent Senator
Conrad Burns in the Republican primary. Tester will face Burns this
fall.

In New Jersey, state Senator Tom Kean won the Republican nomination
for U.S. Senate, and former Speaker Albio Sires won the Democratic
primary for Congress in June.

Mitch for a Majority" is Indiana Governor Mirth Daniels'
new PAC created to keep the Legislature in Republican hands. It's
the first time a Hoosier governor has started a political action
committee to benefit legislative campaigns.

David Burnell Smith, a first-term lawmaker and criminal lawyer from
Carefree, is the first Arizona state legislator to be removed from
office for campaign finance violations. Smith overspent his campaign
limits by some $6,000, was fined $10,000, and ordered to pay back
$34,625. Now the former House member is going up against three other
candidates in the GOP primary for an open seat. According to a Phoenix
political strategist and pollster, Smith has "an excellent chance
of being re-elected."

The mystery surrounding the death of former Nevada lawmaker and
state controller Kathy Augustine has the elements of a made-for-TV
movie. A healthy 50-year-old is found unconscious in her home by her new
husband and dies three days later. He is a man eight years her junior
who was a critical care nurse in the unit where her previous husband
died and with whom she flew to Hawaii just three weeks later and
proposed marriage. She was his fourth wife. He attempted suicide three
days after Augustine died, did not attend her funeral and has not been
seen by neighbors since. Toxicology tests are being conducted at the FBI
lab in Quantico, Va. Augustine's former husband's family says
they will request an exhumation of his body if the tests on Augustine
come back positive. She was running in the Republican primary for state
treasurer, but the party refused to support her because she was
impeached by the Nevada Assembly, found guilty on one count of violating
state ethics laws during her 2002 campaign for re-election as
controller, and censured but allowed to remain in office.

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